Nova vs Apex: The Clash of the Titans

We have seen Nova launcher, which is currently the king of the launchers but Apex is no less. Apex is a worthy challenger to Nova and wants to dethrone Nova. Let us see who will end up with the throne of the launchers.

People's reviews :

Both launchers are extremely popular. The playstore  ratings of Nova launcherfree version is 4.6. On the other hand Apex Launcher has a score of 4.3 stars. Nova launcher has more installs in comparison with Apex. Following point must be considered before choosing the right launcher but don't worry more is yet to come.

Look and Feel of Launchers:

Both launchers have almost same home screen feel and app drawers. The drawer graphics of Apex launcher are more smooth. Nova launcher gives lesser sleek look but according many reviews and my experience Nova has a slight edge in this category. Making the score 2 for Nova and 0 for Apex but don't decide too soon.  

Customization and Speed:

Both Nova and Apex are highly customisable. The options available to mold the android experience are great. But when compared Apex launcher wins the race. A view of the customization available is given in the below given screenshots.When compared for speed, both launchers are speedy. Apex launcher is a bit better as it provides no lags. But it does not means that Nova launcher slows down. guess what Apex is catching up !!!

Settings :

There isn't much difference in home screen settings In both of  these apps. The icons,  quick start dock and folder presentation is nearly identical.One look at the 

settings. Glance at the settings menus and you'll see that both launchers have adopted a whole stack of customization options. It's all possible: from the number of app symbols that can be added to the home screen and dock, to the presentation of the notifications bar, to scrolling behavior in the app drawer.

Widgets :

Talking about homescren we come to widgets well there a some straightforward choices in this matter There is not much to talk about here both are nearly the same so there is no clear winner in this category both the apps show their prime weakness here. Still there is no clear winner... 

Bottom line :

Both launchers are very similar . During this brief battle, it was hard for me to see what made Apex that much better than the Nova launcher. Most importantly, Apex has its own tablet mode as well as many gesture settings in the free version. The advantage that comes with both launchers is the huge amount of settings which give you lots of freedom to customize the home screen. The biggest disadvantage is that both have very limited widget and theme choice. To counter this, you'll need to be active yourself and find your own pictures to spruce up the look of the background. All in all, either launcher follows the motto ''it is what you make of it''.

Customization with Apex: The Arrival of the Challenger

Apex Launcher is one of the oldest and best known launchers in the market today.  With it first being launched on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and supports all Android versions from 4.0 onwards. While Nova has usurped the throne of the launchers, Apex is still a very able and determined challenger. Let the games begins!

On choosing Apex Launcher as your default launcher, two new icons pop up on your home screen which are Apex menu and Apex settings. On going to Apex settings, you will be greeted by a neat interface and a set of menus. The Apex settings should look like this:

Home screen settings:

Here you can multiple options available to you for open customization. Those who read our series on Nova launcher will be familiar with the options. These options are easy to understand and simple to implement. We have made our own choices and you can copy that for a start and then do further customization based on choices.

Infinite scroll is a nifty feature that is useful. The grids allow you to place your apps on your preference.    

Drawer Settings:

   

Drawer settings is a pivotal part of Apex settings that allows you to control the app drawer through a series of options that are simple and functional. Nothing that is too hard to understand here.

Dock Settings:

Dock settings helps you control the dock at the bottom of your screen that contains most frequently used apps and is a big time saver many times. There are options to customize this effectively and for those acquainted with Nova Settings, this is a breeze.

Folder:

The Folder settings provide you with many options including folders like those of iOS which is a unique thing not found in Nova but on the flipside, they do not have an option for Android N Preview folder. Most of the options depend on your individual taste.

Behaviour settings:

Behaviour settings help you to streamline your experience with Apex with various gestures and controls that you can customize. 

Theme settings:

Theme settings is the Apex equivalent of Nova's Look and Feel menu. Here you can apply themes available for Apex which is more comprehensive than just a custom icon pack and can change your interface. Nova doesn't allow you to go much further than putting an icon pack in that aspect.

Advanced settings:

Advanced settings is for power users who want to go beyond the usual suite of options and desire more options and control over the customization of their devices. Here you can get "Ok Google" hotword detection and much more.

Apex truly is a powerhouse of a launcher that is versatile, robust and filled to the brim with features. While many tend to compare it with Nova, for us that remains for another day. Till then, see you and have fun!

Customization with Nova: Part 2(Android N folder included)

Welcome back to Customization with Nova. This week we will be dealing with the rest of basic settings. Also we will be exploring how to get the aesthetics of Android N developer preview's folder as a part of your Android experience. In the last part we started off with Nova settings.

Dock and Folders:

This two menus are relatively small and easy to understand. The Dock Menu controls the separate dock at the bottom containing the app drawer shortcut and frequently used apps. You can change the Dock background, width and height padding and tinker in general. In the Folders menu, you can get the option for changing your folders to look like one in Android N Developer Preview. Simply make the Folder Background to N preview and Folder preview to grid. Transition animation should be set to Circle and Background is all up to you. 

Look and Feel:

Look and Feel is major part of Nova settings where you can do a lot of customization. You will notice Icon theme at the top. By default you are given the options of system or of Marshmallow, this can expanded by using icon packs as were explored in detail in a previous post, I personally prefer Moonshine over its competitors but it is up to you to find what appeals to you.  One thing that you will find in normal settings under Developer's options, is the Animation speed. It is recommended to leave it at Faster than light to make your device appear to speed up. Notification bar optimizations are entirely up to you.

Night Mode and Gestures & inputs:

Night mode was actually active at time of the photgraphs so my whole Nova Settings interface is not the usual white but instead black. This is good as reduced levels of external light means that the light emitted by the phone can disrupt your sleep patterns. Gestures and inputs has nifty tricks here and there to make your life easier and simpler and to streamline your experience.

After applying these tweaks, the effects will be visible. Here is the end result:

Here you can see the homescreen with the Android N Preview folders and also the app drawer in all its glory. This launcher most probably just changed the way your phone looks and change is good. So keep changing!!

Icon Packs 101

Icon packs, you may hear that mentioned along with launchers many times. Here are the essentials you need to know.

What are icon packs??

Icon packs are basically apps that replace your existing app icons with better looking icons and are available on the Play Store. They change the look, the design and customize all of this for all the apps installed on the device(The amount of apps depends on the particular icon pack in particular.). You can find loads and loads of icon packs and if you want to see your launcher compatibility you have to download each one individually to see which one works better.

Sometimes it is a wee bit more complicated as sometimes there won’t be any simple APS files to download from. In this case you have to download the APK and apply the icons individually and is also very time consuming. Two of the best platforms for running icon packs are the Nova Launcher and Apex Launcher.

Polycon:
To have a wonderful Android experience and to feel the true Android feel you have to download Polycon and it is also very handy. Its icons may be sleek nut they have a really nice look and noticeable touches that makes it flourish perfectly in almost any wallpaper you will want to add.  A major plus point for Polycon is that it has more than 500 icons and so basically you are unlikely to find an app which doesn’t  have a specific icon in Polycon. And even if you are unable to find one you can request them or send in your queries regarding it and they may help you.

      Moonshine:

Moonshine is one of the best in its league for Android Lollipop(5.0). Version 2.0 for around features a more wider variety of icon packs for apps that is 1000 material design inspired design for the icons. It is compatible with all major launchers such as Nova, Apex,ADW,Smart,Unicorn,Aviate,etc. It comes with a wide set of backgrounds and among the widest set of icons also

These above mentioned two icon pack apps are just the tip of the iceberg but they are among the best and have carved themselves a niche in the market and are very highly respected and make your phone look truly beautiful.

Google Now Launcher: Simplicity is the Greatest Complexity

Google Now Launcher is the official launcher powering Nexus devices which are manufactured under Google's watchful eye. This launcher has been made public to the whole Android community through the medium of Google's Play Store. Google has also developed a new and fresh design language that it calls "Material Design". All Google apps are the forefront of that design revolution. Google put down the gauntlet by launching the Google Now Launcher for all devices as it helps make the devices look a bit like Nexus devices.

What Google Now Launcher brings to the table is a no fuss-no muss launcher that is as simple as just enabling and the launcher does the rest. It also gets the much improved Google Now interface with the Google Now assistant also built into it smoothly. You can activate "Ok Google" hotword from any screen or if your phone is running Marshmallow, then you can enable Google Now On Tap.

 

(From the left: Google Now On Tap in various stages.)

Google Now as a service was built as a competitor to Siri and was made available through Android Jellybean 4.1(9 July 2012). Though the original Google Now was a work in progress, with successful iterations of its Android it is constantly refining Google Now to the point of simple, functional and useful design. And as the adage goes- "Simplicity is the greatest complexity"  and that's exactly what Google aims to do with this. This service was also soon made available on Apple devices. 

Google Now recognizes actions and commands from the user to perform basic functions like answering a question, performing system tasks like setting an alarm or reminder. It displays cards based on your browsing history and adapts according to your present location giving you relevant location-centric information.

Google Now on Tap is a new feature introduced in Android 6.0 Marshmallow which allows the user to perform searches within the content of the information. When a user activates Tap by holding the home button or using the voice command feature the entire text is presented on the screen and is also parsed to search for keywords and other information. Users can also use voice commands to ask questions related to the topic of these cards.

While Google Now Launcher isn't as customizable as Apex or Nova but it is an app that just works without much effort on your part.                                                      

  

Customization with Nova Launcher: Part 1

In the introductory post of launchers, three main players were told. This post is about the current creme-de-la-creme of launchers, Nova Launcher which has cemented its position at the top. Nova Launcher is one of the top apps of 2015 on the Google Play Store. Nova Launcher has a "Pro" version and a beta program. Enrolling in the Beta program is highly recommended as you can get new features before the rest of the public. To enroll in the beta program, click here. After joining the beta program, you will prompted to a beta version in the Play Store. Beta versions though may sometimes have bugs. On downloading Nova Launcher, you will be prompted to set it as your default home. Accept and enjoy. If you have a single layered interface, then an app drawer will appear.

To start your customization experience, open Nova Settings which would have appeared in your app drawer. It should look like the picture shown. Here you can see various options available of which most are displayed. Initially the sheer variety can overwhelm a novice. The key is to take things slow and easy. We will start with the first option- 'Desktop'.

Desktop:

 

In the pictures above, you can see the the Desktop menu completely. Let's handle the Desktop Grid first. This allows you to set how apps are arranged in rows and columns. Icon Layout allows you to set the size and label of the apps. Infinite Scroll is a nifty feature that allows you to loop between your various homescreens. Other minor features are there but they are easy to understand and so will not be covered.

App and Widget Drawers:

Now we come to the second menu in Nova Settings namely- App and Widget drawers. This is a major menu as it allows you to customize your app drawer and your accompanying widget drawer. Some OEMs (Mostly Chinese) do not come with an app drawer by default. This enables the app drawer and you various parameters like a dock at the top with the most used apps, a fast scroll bar that is very useful, background customization varying from transparent to opaque in any color you like and options for the app drawer style. Now for detailed explanation, turn on Frequently used apps, make App drawer style vertical like the default app drawer on stock Marshmallow, Enable fast scrollbar as it is very useful and allows you to access apps quickly, Background option allows you to change the background of the app drawer according to your personal preference. Pull to search or a persistant search bar can allow you to search for any app of your choice. Widgets can arranged in a similar manner.

Rest of the features will be explored in the next part of this series, till then keep customizing!

Custom Launchers, What, Why and How?

Another normal day, you pick up your phone and look at your home screen. It may be a "flagship killer" or have "earth-shattering power" but unless you have a Nexus device or something similar like a Moto device, most certainly you will have an intrusive UI on top of vanilla Android put there by your OEM. While some OEMs manage to pull off a skin on top of Android (*ahem*HTC) others are not so successful(Yes Samsung, Touchwiz is a terrible idea.). Chinese OEMs which have become very popular off late due to their low specs-to-price ratio, they have among the worst UIs there can be. Most are single layered iOS wannabes who don't even pull it off properly. They are just one step away from outright declaring their aim of copying iOS be it the app icons, the interface or just the system apps themselves, all are cheap knockoffs.

(From the left: LG's too vibrant Optimus, Chinese OEMs, Horrendous Touchwiz in its glory, Xperia in all its dysfunctional glory)

Google has a definite vision for Android with its emphasis for clean, functional design under the Material Design mantle, OEMs often add tweaks to android sometimes making it almost unrecognisable. In the same vein, often these heavy UIs make the phone slow and unresponsive. There is however a way to make your device appear better like stock or have customizability options that you may otherwise lack. These can truly make your device unique like you. You don't have to be another

mindless drone. With custom launchers, you can make your device look like stock Android, or customize in everything. Now to a beginner, the sheer amount of apps can overwhelm, each with its own selling point. Now we will guide you through the best custom launchers there are and also one for what your vision for your phone home screen.

A launcher basically is a program that controls your phone's physical UI elements like the home screen and the app drawer. And if your phone has a single layered interface then you can add an app drawer if you like. There are mainly three major custom launcher apps which are namely:

1. Google Now Launcher by Google Inc.
2. Nova Launcher by Teslacoil
3. Apex Laucher by Android Does

Each will be discussed in detail in following posts but in brief each serve their own purpose and have their own pros and cons. As for Nova and Apex, they both have "Pro" paid versions with extra functionality for an added price. Nova even has a beta program which is nice for extra features earlier.